At first I wasn’t sure, but I noticed a suspicious increase in dog-related articles in the October 8, Op-Ed section of The New York Times. That Sunday alone, the Gray Lady published at least three fascinating articles prominently featuring dogs.

The first was an article on the replacement of German Shepherds by Belgian Malinois as the West Rhine-Westphalia police dog.

Another article written by a woman with memory loss from a traumatic brain injury recounted her inability to recognize her friends and how she learned to rely on her dog to recognize and greet people she once knew.

And yet a third article described a behavioral study of the interaction between dogs and sheep.

Two more dog articles last week!
I was sure the increase in dog related articles was a phenomenon when dogs were featured in the Weekend Arts section with a book review of New York Times Executive Editor, Jill Abramson’s The Puppy Diaries and in the Metropolitan section with an article on two Labrador Retrievers, Bonnie and Clyde, who reside in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s townhouse, but belong to his girlfriend, Diana Taylor.

This weekend the cover of the Book section has a color illustration of Rin Tin Tin and a review of his new biography.

Why is it always about dogs?
It really isn’t all about dogs, just mostly about dogs. Thank goodness for Gail Collins of the Op-Ed section who wrote one of the Times’ articles about cats last month.

However, both recent Times’ articles on cats are actually about the same cat, Willow: lost in Colorado, found in New York City.

Why shouldn’t the New York Times write about dogs, they are the most popular pet after all?
Not true. Current data says the 72 million pet cats outnumber the 62 million pet dogs living in the United States today! I suspect since cats have been branded as independent and aloof, nobody thinks they deserve more than one mention per month on the Op-Ed page, making the species journalistically underserved.

Did you know cats are medically under served too? Check "Fur the Love of Pets" on Monday and find out why.

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This may also be found in the “Tales from the Pet Clinic” blog on WebMD.com.

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